On WELSTech this week, Professor Bill Pekrul from Martin Luther College joins the show to talk about ways to promote your church and school through social media and other digital channels. Sallie shares a list of favorite digital tools, while Martin drops his cell phone…on purpose.

Promotion planning – Martin and Sallie talk with Professor Bill Pekrul, Director of Public Relations at Martin Luther College, about promoting church and school. Bill stresses the key to great promotions is adopting realistic, effective, and sustainable plans.

Netflix Adds Offline Viewing

Tune in for the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Christmas Concert live stream on Sunday, December 11 at 3 and 7 pm Central

Check out the 30-day free trial of Proclaim 2.0

Replay the Martin Luther College live streamed Christmas Concert.

Episode 475 – Martin and Sallie share listener feedback! Release date: Wednesday, December 14

This week on WELSTech, our inner-nerdiness comes out as Rachel Feld joins the edtech conversation for a look at the popular trend, Makerspaces. Martin shares info on several affordable options in the Internet of Things realm, there’s WELS music for the Christmas season available, as well as a special Pinterest board full of ideas for Advent.

Design, create, iterate – It’s education week on WELSTech! Martin and Sallie are joined by Rachel Feld, 1st and 2nd grade teacher from Bethany in Kenosha, WI, and the topic du jour is Makerspaces. The New Media Consortium Horizon Report 2016 K-12 Edition (p. 36-37) identified Makerspaces as an important development in K-12 education technology. Find out why and hear ideas about adding a makerspace to your school.

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WELS Seasonal Radio

Check out Rachel’s Advent board on Pinterest

The newest addition on the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching YouTube playlist is Get Going with Your School Maker Faire.

Episode 474 – Prof. Bill Pekrul, Director of Public Relations at Martin Luther College, joins Martin and Sallie to talk about church and school promotion. Release date: Wednesday, December 7.

The feature image used on this post is courtesy of Flickr user 5chw4r7z and is licensed for reuse and modification under Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0. We modified the image by cropping to our standard feature image size.

Welcome to Thanksgiving week on WELSTech. We are thankful that you joined us! Just like every week, Martin and Sallie share lots of reasons to be thankful for technology in ministry, including the popular 364 Days of Thanksgiving blog and book, a special WELS Missions issue of Forward in Christ magazine, and the ability to support the synod while you shop with Amazon Smile.

Counting our blessings – Martin and Sallie recently talked with Pastor Andrew Schroer from Redeemer in Edna, TX about his popular book, blog and syndicated newspaper column, 364 Days of Thanksgiving (Facebook | Twitter). Learn how the daily exercise of journaling your reasons for giving thanks can focus your attention on our triune God, the giver of all good things.

Snapchat unveils $130 connected sunglasses

WELS Missions and You – Bonus Issue of Forward in Christ magazine – Request a free copy

Purchase 364 Days of Thanksgiving from Northwestern Publishing House or Amazon

From WELS’ Moments with Missionaries album on Vimeo, learn more about our outreach efforts in Vancouver, British Columbia, the newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Episode 473 – Teacher extraordinaire Rachel Feld is back to talk Makerspaces in education. Release date: Wednesday, November 30.

We’ve arrived at another community feedback week on WELSTech, and the sites and resources shared are functional, friendly, free, and favorable for furtherance of ministry. :-D Sallie’s coding Minecraft sheep to produce diamonds, Martin’s scanning historic photos with his smart phone, and WELS has a new youth ministry resource worth checking out. Listen & learn!

Tab-palooza – Sallie’s loaded up a whopping 27 tabs of WELSTech goodness for this week’s WELSTech community feedback discussion. From G Suite tricks and updates to ministry tech ideas for the upcoming Advent and Christmas season to a tool for creating virtual reality scenes, there’s something for everyone!

WhatsApp Video Calling

Forward in Christ archive

New Youth Ministry Resource Available – Order from NPH

Learn more about the Transformed program for Youth Ministry by watching Pastor Jon Enter’s 2016 Youth Rally Transformed Workshop, the newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo.

Episode 472 – We’re giving thanks WELSTech-style as we talk with Pastor Andrew Schroer, author of 364 Days of Thanksgiving. Release date: Wednesday, November 23.

This week on WELSTech Martin and Sallie broadcast from the new WELS Center for Mission and Ministry Welcome Center and discuss one of the biggest social networks that congregations don’t know quite what to do with…Twitter. Tune in for ideas on building a Twitter following for your organization and helping your members “spread the Word.”

Welcome to Twitter – The latest installment in the WELSTech Social Media for Ministry series focuses on the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Check out the Twitter for Ministry infographic for tips on the why, what, who and how of Twitter.

Follow WELS on Twitter – @WELStweets

Follow Concordia Technology on Twitter – @ConcordiaTech

Visit Getting Started with Twitter for 6 short video overviews on using Twitter.

Episode 471 – Tweet @WELSTech or #WELSTech and be part of Community Feedback week! Release date: Wednesday, November 16.

On this week’s WELSTech we tackle a difficult topic, Internet addictions including the use of pornography. Learn some practical tips and resources to help yourself or others you are close to who may suffer from some type of internet addiction. Martin test drives a new, affordable computer solution, and we share a brand new lectionary for the upcoming Church Year A.

Too much or inappropriate use of technology – Martin and Sallie discuss the many types of addictions which can come from use of technology. Staff Minister Dan Schoeffel shares his experience working on the Conquerors Through Christ initiative to support those struggling with the sin of pornography.

Church Year A Lectionary from the Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV) of the Bible by the Wartburg Project

This week we’ve added video of a 4-year-old’s ABC Bible Verses to the WELSTech Presentation/Teaching Videos Playlist on YouTube. Download the verses from Homeschool Creations.

Episode 470 – Martin and Sallie are side by side in the lovely WELS Studio to share ideas on Twitter for Ministry. Release date: Wednesday, November 9.

Tune in for a coding in education discussion on this week’s WELSTech. Jason Schmidt guest hosts with Martin and Sallie as we look at the trends detailed in the NMC K-12 Horizon Report 2016, and how the adoption of computational thinking across the curriculum might look in our WELS classrooms.

Coding as a Literacy – Jason Schmidt makes his 2016-17 season debut on WELSTech, bringing his own brand of sunshine to the edtech discussion space. Today we look at the New Media Consortium K-12 Horizon Report 2016 and specifically the short-term trend of coding as a literacy.

There’s still time to participate, but these events are ending this week:

Free Bible Images for Advent and Christmas

We celebrate the 499th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation with this week’s music video, A Mighty Fortress is Our God by Koine, from the WELSTech Music YouTube playlist.

Episode 469 – Staff Minister Dan Schoeffel joins the conversation to share information on Internet addictions. Release date: Wednesday, November 2.

Welcome back to WELSTech. This week we share your community feedback covering technology plans, social network tips, and church year calendars. Throw in a 3D printed WELS Logo plus a large dose of doctrine joy, and there is something for everyone. Join the conversation!

3D printing meets ministry – Martin and Sallie open real and virtual mail bags to share listener’s helpful resources and ideas for using tech in public and personal ministry.

The Table Project is ending December 31, 2016. Possible alternatives:

Check out Martin’s Digital Christianship presentation, part of the Gospel Outreach with Media Fall 2016 online conference which runs through October 31.

Essay files at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary – Doctrine joy!

The newest addition on the WELSTech “Likes” list on Vimeo, features our very own Martin Spriggs in a Together technology video update.

Episode 468 – Jason Schmidt is back in the guest host chair, with a healthy dose of sunshine in tow, as we dive into the latest Horizon Report for K-12 educational technology. Release date: Wednesday, September 28.

WELSTech is back with episode 466, a look at the social media platform Pinterest and how it can be used to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s installment two of our year-long look at social media for ministry. We also bring you news of Christmas outreach resources, a free online conference, and an easy way to design verse images.

Pinning away – The Social Media for Ministry series is back, and this month’s focus is the media rich bookmarking app Pinterest (Martin’s favorite). View the full-size Pinterest for Ministry infographic, and check out the links below for more details.

Christmas 2016 outreach postcards – Order by October 26

This week we’ve added What’s Pinterest?, just one of the many helpful videos on the Pinterest YouTube channel, to the WELSTech Product Demo playlist.

Episode 467 – It’s Community Feedback week! Tune in because there’s always something new and helpful to explore. Release date: Wednesday, October 19.

WELSTech is back, and Martin and Sallie are talking about simple steps to guard against security breaches of personal information and avoid identity theft on all fronts. Google Apps has a new name, it’s Pastor Appreciation Month, and we’ve got lots of coffee!

12 of 66 – Martin and Sallie share a preview of Consumer Report’s 66 Ways to Protect Your Privacy Right Now. These simple, common-sense tips are worth review and could save you a lot of heartache!

October is Pastor Appreciation Month

Enjoy the Christian Worship hymn Lord, You I Love With All My Heart (text) on the WELSTech Music Playlist.

Episode 466 – Martin is in the spotlight as he schools us on using Pinterest for Ministry! Release date: Wednesday, October 12.